I like a lot of Card's books, especially Ender's Game and Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus. They were pretty interesting.
I couldn't stand the Lance Armstrong biography (It's Not About the Bike). What an egotistical a-hole! The entire book is a shrine to using people, ego, and machismo. Also, it is very poorly written. If you thought the Jose Canseco book looked like it was written by a fourth-grader, wait 'til you see this cr ap.
I couldn't stand the Lance Armstrong biography (It's Not About the Bike). What an egotistical a-hole! The entire book is a shrine to using people, ego, and machismo. Also, it is very poorly written. If you thought the Jose Canseco book looked like it was written by a fourth-grader, wait 'til you see this cr ap.
Furi
Felix Sapiens
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2007
- Messages
- 2,005
Telephone directories, Service manuals for domestic equipment I don't own
Anything book described as "Oh My GOD, You have to read this!", "Must Read", "Life Changing", "Eye Opening" (I could also add thought provoking) as these tend to be this months coffee table books or by Dan Brown, although some excellent books have been, be seen with reading matter in the past, they are very far between.
Any factual book, requiring you to read 40+ other books just to find out what they actually where trying to tell you when had you just read the other 40+ books in the first place you wouldn't need to have read that one.
Any Fiction, where you have a no feeling for the characters, and in your minds eye you see them radulad to death by rampant gastropods (if the author has managed to even give you a decent character descriiption) anything by Nick Hornby (which for some unknown reason even though she knows I hate his paper wasting crud, I have an aunt that will buy a copy of any offering by his for my birthday (she actually has bought me 3 copies of Hi fidelity))
=^..^=
Anything book described as "Oh My GOD, You have to read this!", "Must Read", "Life Changing", "Eye Opening" (I could also add thought provoking) as these tend to be this months coffee table books or by Dan Brown, although some excellent books have been, be seen with reading matter in the past, they are very far between.
Any factual book, requiring you to read 40+ other books just to find out what they actually where trying to tell you when had you just read the other 40+ books in the first place you wouldn't need to have read that one.
Any Fiction, where you have a no feeling for the characters, and in your minds eye you see them radulad to death by rampant gastropods (if the author has managed to even give you a decent character descriiption) anything by Nick Hornby (which for some unknown reason even though she knows I hate his paper wasting crud, I have an aunt that will buy a copy of any offering by his for my birthday (she actually has bought me 3 copies of Hi fidelity))
=^..^=
"Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon. Normally I would have given up such ponderous tripe very early, but so many critics were calling it a masterpiece that I got through perhaps half before literally throwing it at the wall.
Silence of the Lambs. I don't even know why I had a copy, I think it was in a pile from a yard sale or something. This was when the movie was winning Oscars, so it seemed logical. I remember distinctly being mad that I had been forced to contemplate the content of that book. I'm no prude, yet I suppose the horror-type genre isn't my style, I get that. At the time I remember thinking something like "it this kind of stuff is what my fellow citizens regard as literature or cinema, then I may as well give up." Felt the same way after seeing "Blue Velvet."
Honourable mention to Moonfleet which we were forced to read in school. A big steaming smelly pile of pants.
The winner though is so far ahead of anything else it deserves it's own category of awfulness. It's been mentioned before - Foucault's Pendulum. I was ready to give up on it after a hundred pages but decided to continue. Around half way through I gnawed my right leg off in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the boredom ... but decided I would not be beaten, I must finish the book. These are without doubt the two worst decisions of my life (I don't regret losing the right leg, that probably saved my sanity).
If you are ever tempted to read this ruleten to the power of however many gazillion pages it has ... just. don't.
My heartfelt sympathies to the poor unfortunate who translated FP from Italian to English. I still want to kill him ... and one day I will find him.
The winner though is so far ahead of anything else it deserves it's own category of awfulness. It's been mentioned before - Foucault's Pendulum. I was ready to give up on it after a hundred pages but decided to continue. Around half way through I gnawed my right leg off in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the boredom ... but decided I would not be beaten, I must finish the book. These are without doubt the two worst decisions of my life (I don't regret losing the right leg, that probably saved my sanity).
If you are ever tempted to read this ruleten to the power of however many gazillion pages it has ... just. don't.
My heartfelt sympathies to the poor unfortunate who translated FP from Italian to English. I still want to kill him ... and one day I will find him.
Charlie Monoxide
Wag
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2003
- Messages
- 2,760
Why do you hate America and democracy?
Just kidding. My local library has a number of books for sale. Almost all of Ann Coulter's books (in fancy smancy hard cover) are for sale. A mere dollar will get you a hard-cover book of Ann's hate filled paper. I was there today (Wednesday), and all the Ann's books are still for sale after at least 3 or 4 weeks of being on sale.
I can't understand why. It's now very chilly (sub 32F) here in Reno and Ann's books would make for good kindling ....
Charlie (burn books for heat, not for censorship) Monoxide
Wow, this is interesting.
I recommend "Name of the Rose" and Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" to students that can handle it. I suggest "Foucault's Pendulum" for further reading.
What about Eco's "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" (I think the title, very close). Read it to the very end, and you'll get a better sense of Eco as a scholar, working through his issues. It is very scholarly, all of it. If you don't like Latin epigrams, then god help you.
I dig Eco, sorry guys, you might just maybe have missed some of his (possibly clumsy) literary or cultural references. His field of expertise is semiotics, the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation, as I just defined from my Mac dictionary. He uses Latin as if you understand it (but he really knows you don't). Give Eco a bit more patience, and you might just be rewarded. He wrote a book called "The Island of the Day Before" which I also recommend.
I recommend "Name of the Rose" and Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" to students that can handle it. I suggest "Foucault's Pendulum" for further reading.
What about Eco's "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" (I think the title, very close). Read it to the very end, and you'll get a better sense of Eco as a scholar, working through his issues. It is very scholarly, all of it. If you don't like Latin epigrams, then god help you.
I dig Eco, sorry guys, you might just maybe have missed some of his (possibly clumsy) literary or cultural references. His field of expertise is semiotics, the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation, as I just defined from my Mac dictionary. He uses Latin as if you understand it (but he really knows you don't). Give Eco a bit more patience, and you might just be rewarded. He wrote a book called "The Island of the Day Before" which I also recommend.
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I agree on Eco - 'Foucault's Pendulum' is one of my favourite books.
Books I hate :
Da Vinci Code - badly written, badly plotted, and simply ludicrous.
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - No they are not. Stop generalising
We Need To Talk About Kevin - No, you need to grow up.
Books I hate :
Da Vinci Code - badly written, badly plotted, and simply ludicrous.
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - No they are not. Stop generalising
We Need To Talk About Kevin - No, you need to grow up.
Da Vinci Code...I didn't hate it really, I did rather admire the man for taking Eco and the whole Magdalen thing from "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and making it work for him and a lot of readers.
A book that I voluntarily tried to read, was given to me, but threw away? The one called "If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him" by Sheldon Kopp. Half baked 60's ideas from a dabbler with a publisher. Utter road kill. If someone tells you to read this book, smack them. Then call them Buddha.
A book that I voluntarily tried to read, was given to me, but threw away? The one called "If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him" by Sheldon Kopp. Half baked 60's ideas from a dabbler with a publisher. Utter road kill. If someone tells you to read this book, smack them. Then call them Buddha.
"Fingerprints of the gods" by Graham Hancock. I can't imagine what
ever possessed me to buy this (years ago) but it is pseudoscience and utter
claptrap of the most egregious sort. It is nice and thick, though, so it'd likely
be useful when trapped on the ice-planet of Hoth. As well as burning it, I
could rip pages out to stuff inside my spacesuit. Also useful if the Space
Corps survival rations give me a case of Klatoo's Revenge.
"Clan of the cave bear" by Jean Auel (or something). This was given to
me and described as "a great reference for Neanderthal customs and society"
(alarm bells ringing already there). Utter, utter garbage. I finally literally
threw it across the room when, after an earthquake that collapsed their
cave, one of the Neanderthals hand-signalled (they cannot speak but use
an ultra-sophisticated sign language instead) "Watch out, there may be
after-shocks!"
Any of those Roman novels by Simon Scarrow. Pathetic plots and characters
that do not think, feel, react or talk anything like real people of the era. The
dialog is also written in an aggressively modern style which adds a comic
touch; "That'll look good on his CV when he gets back to Rome",
"This battle will be a good team-building exercise for the men". All a
bit like "Sharpe", but written by an twelve year old.
"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressman is the same as the above. Spartans
that don't act like real Spartans. Modern dialogue: "This is my shield, there
are many like it but this one is mine...". Passages ripped off from Homer
(no surprise that the reviews say things like "This book is truly Homeric") and
a story line blatantly stolen from the screenplay of "300 Spartans" from the
1960s.
"Gladiators 100 BC - 200 AD" Osprey Warrior series by Steven Wisdom.
A non-fiction book clearly rushed out some years ago to cash in on the
popularity of the truly dreadful "Gladiator" film by Ridley Scott. The book was
written by someone who clearly knew almost nothing of the subject (the
bibliography - confirmed by internal evidence - indicates that they consulted
precisely two popular books as "research") and had "small Latin and less
Greek" (this did not deter them from peppering the text liberally with words,
proper nouns and technical terms in those languages, and providing
a "glossary" at the back too. In almost every case the word is either spelled,
defined or constructed incorrectly; in fact sometimes all three at once, which
surely is quite an achievement).
Having had an interest in this particular subject for many years, I compiled a
long list of errata and sent it off to the publishers, with a letter of complaint.
I notice in the second edition of this travesty of scholarship that they
included some of my corrections (verbatim) but didn't deign to credit my
contribution!
ever possessed me to buy this (years ago) but it is pseudoscience and utter
claptrap of the most egregious sort. It is nice and thick, though, so it'd likely
be useful when trapped on the ice-planet of Hoth. As well as burning it, I
could rip pages out to stuff inside my spacesuit. Also useful if the Space
Corps survival rations give me a case of Klatoo's Revenge.
"Clan of the cave bear" by Jean Auel (or something). This was given to
me and described as "a great reference for Neanderthal customs and society"
(alarm bells ringing already there). Utter, utter garbage. I finally literally
threw it across the room when, after an earthquake that collapsed their
cave, one of the Neanderthals hand-signalled (they cannot speak but use
an ultra-sophisticated sign language instead) "Watch out, there may be
after-shocks!"
Any of those Roman novels by Simon Scarrow. Pathetic plots and characters
that do not think, feel, react or talk anything like real people of the era. The
dialog is also written in an aggressively modern style which adds a comic
touch; "That'll look good on his CV when he gets back to Rome",
"This battle will be a good team-building exercise for the men". All a
bit like "Sharpe", but written by an twelve year old.
"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressman is the same as the above. Spartans
that don't act like real Spartans. Modern dialogue: "This is my shield, there
are many like it but this one is mine...". Passages ripped off from Homer
(no surprise that the reviews say things like "This book is truly Homeric") and
a story line blatantly stolen from the screenplay of "300 Spartans" from the
1960s.
"Gladiators 100 BC - 200 AD" Osprey Warrior series by Steven Wisdom.
A non-fiction book clearly rushed out some years ago to cash in on the
popularity of the truly dreadful "Gladiator" film by Ridley Scott. The book was
written by someone who clearly knew almost nothing of the subject (the
bibliography - confirmed by internal evidence - indicates that they consulted
precisely two popular books as "research") and had "small Latin and less
Greek" (this did not deter them from peppering the text liberally with words,
proper nouns and technical terms in those languages, and providing
a "glossary" at the back too. In almost every case the word is either spelled,
defined or constructed incorrectly; in fact sometimes all three at once, which
surely is quite an achievement).
Having had an interest in this particular subject for many years, I compiled a
long list of errata and sent it off to the publishers, with a letter of complaint.
I notice in the second edition of this travesty of scholarship that they
included some of my corrections (verbatim) but didn't deign to credit my
contribution!
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Anything by Dickens that I've tried to read!
ZeeGerman
Graduate Poster
American Psycho by B.E.Ellis
I liked it in the beginning but when his murders became increasingly cruel I just couldn't continue. Especially because it's written in the 1st person.
Zee
I liked it in the beginning but when his murders became increasingly cruel I just couldn't continue. Especially because it's written in the 1st person.
Zee
Morrigan
Crone of War
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2006
- Messages
- 8,262
Whoops, I forgot to post reasons.
Sword of Truth books - um, do I really need a reason? Well, here's a few: one-dimensional, black and white characters (the heroes are always RIGHT, no matter what, and the villains are always WRONG, EVIL and very caricatural); blatant and constant overuse of deus ex machina and contrived plot devices; a magic system he makes up as he goes just to suit his story; droning speeches about why Objectivism Is Good and Collectivism Is Bad that go on for pages and pages and that gets represented in the most morally bankrupt fashion; pages upon pages of depictions of rape and almost-rape (I swear, the main chick gets almost-raped in every other book): man-on-man rape, man-on-woman rape, woman-on-man rape, woman-on-woman rape; a trite, repetitive prose worthy of a failing 5th grader (how many times does he use "raptor gaze" to describe the protagonist's eyes - nevermind that raptors don't exist in that world), cheesy, pompous and non-believable dialogue; do I really need to go on?
Ender's Game - The plot itself is grotesquely stupid: where all the most brilliant military strategists in the world have failed to defeat an incoming alien menace, they turn to Ender, a little boy who's supposedly "gifted" (examples of his shining intelligence is how he comes up with basic tactics in their "game room", the room where the children-soldiers train - I mean okay, pretty cool for a 6-year old, but that's it), to do it for them, in the manner of playing a simulation video game that wasn't really one after all - genius! Not to mention Ender being an annoying violent little douchebag. Along with that follows a subplot about his even more annoying teenage siblings whose anonymous blogging somehow enable them to control the world of international politics. Add to that little to no character development, mediocre prose and pages and pages of descriptions of tedious game room mock battles and you got a true stinker. How this piece of total garbage managed to win so many awards is anyone's guess.
Interview With a Vampire - dull and slow-paced, a coma-inducing story about weepy homoerotic vampires. Enough said.
Le petit sauvage - a man is having a mid-life crisis and tries to return to his childhood by leaving his wife and having lots of sex and remembering his childhood trivia. As generic as this is, we're supposed to think it's deep and insightful despite the generic writing and the total lack of research (I *love* his caricatural portrayal of the Québécois when his protagonist ends up in Montréal - I guess that's French chauvinism for you). It's certainly pretentious and very, very, very boring. I couldn't relate to anyone, in fact, I kind of hated every single character and wanted them to die in a blaze of fire. I cheered when the protagonist died of a slow agonizing brain cancer at the end.
One of the most irritating thing about this book though, was the context in which I read it, though. Last year of high school, we had to read and study this silliness. And then later on we had to pick a book to read for an oral presentation - but it couldn't be any book. Fair enough. But we couldn't use any science-fiction, horror, war-themed or fantasy book, according to the teacher - not our actual teacher, but a vapid wench of an intern who thought she knew something of literature by shoveling this garbage down our throat. Anyway, she said that she disallowed those because it was all "easy" reading. Lord of the Rings is "easy reading", Victor Hugo is "easy literature" - but this French hack is, of course, a literary genius who will be remembered in centuries to come, right? Stupid bitch. Oh yeah, when a guy asked if he could read some novel about the Vietnam war (I forgot the title), she said no, but she said "you can read a Vietnam war book if, say, it's about an American soldier who falls in love with a Vietnamese woman...". I kid you not, we had to read something according to her shallow romance tastes or else we were disqualified. She also gave me dirty looks all the time because I had openly bashed Le petit sauvage in class once, and made sure I had the lowest grades possible. Nevermind that the actual, permanent teacher gave me high grades the rest of the year, and he was the sternest teacher ever when it came to spelling and grammar; somehow this wench managed to find tons of reasons to dunk points and highlight everything in red from the works I turned in. It was nearly ten years ago, but I still hope the stupid bitch never made it to teacher, or that she got fired early on if she did.
</rant>
Sword of Truth books - um, do I really need a reason? Well, here's a few: one-dimensional, black and white characters (the heroes are always RIGHT, no matter what, and the villains are always WRONG, EVIL and very caricatural); blatant and constant overuse of deus ex machina and contrived plot devices; a magic system he makes up as he goes just to suit his story; droning speeches about why Objectivism Is Good and Collectivism Is Bad that go on for pages and pages and that gets represented in the most morally bankrupt fashion; pages upon pages of depictions of rape and almost-rape (I swear, the main chick gets almost-raped in every other book): man-on-man rape, man-on-woman rape, woman-on-man rape, woman-on-woman rape; a trite, repetitive prose worthy of a failing 5th grader (how many times does he use "raptor gaze" to describe the protagonist's eyes - nevermind that raptors don't exist in that world), cheesy, pompous and non-believable dialogue; do I really need to go on?
Ender's Game - The plot itself is grotesquely stupid: where all the most brilliant military strategists in the world have failed to defeat an incoming alien menace, they turn to Ender, a little boy who's supposedly "gifted" (examples of his shining intelligence is how he comes up with basic tactics in their "game room", the room where the children-soldiers train - I mean okay, pretty cool for a 6-year old, but that's it), to do it for them, in the manner of playing a simulation video game that wasn't really one after all - genius! Not to mention Ender being an annoying violent little douchebag. Along with that follows a subplot about his even more annoying teenage siblings whose anonymous blogging somehow enable them to control the world of international politics. Add to that little to no character development, mediocre prose and pages and pages of descriptions of tedious game room mock battles and you got a true stinker. How this piece of total garbage managed to win so many awards is anyone's guess.
Interview With a Vampire - dull and slow-paced, a coma-inducing story about weepy homoerotic vampires. Enough said.
Le petit sauvage - a man is having a mid-life crisis and tries to return to his childhood by leaving his wife and having lots of sex and remembering his childhood trivia. As generic as this is, we're supposed to think it's deep and insightful despite the generic writing and the total lack of research (I *love* his caricatural portrayal of the Québécois when his protagonist ends up in Montréal - I guess that's French chauvinism for you). It's certainly pretentious and very, very, very boring. I couldn't relate to anyone, in fact, I kind of hated every single character and wanted them to die in a blaze of fire. I cheered when the protagonist died of a slow agonizing brain cancer at the end.
One of the most irritating thing about this book though, was the context in which I read it, though. Last year of high school, we had to read and study this silliness. And then later on we had to pick a book to read for an oral presentation - but it couldn't be any book. Fair enough. But we couldn't use any science-fiction, horror, war-themed or fantasy book, according to the teacher - not our actual teacher, but a vapid wench of an intern who thought she knew something of literature by shoveling this garbage down our throat. Anyway, she said that she disallowed those because it was all "easy" reading. Lord of the Rings is "easy reading", Victor Hugo is "easy literature" - but this French hack is, of course, a literary genius who will be remembered in centuries to come, right? Stupid bitch. Oh yeah, when a guy asked if he could read some novel about the Vietnam war (I forgot the title), she said no, but she said "you can read a Vietnam war book if, say, it's about an American soldier who falls in love with a Vietnamese woman...". I kid you not, we had to read something according to her shallow romance tastes or else we were disqualified. She also gave me dirty looks all the time because I had openly bashed Le petit sauvage in class once, and made sure I had the lowest grades possible. Nevermind that the actual, permanent teacher gave me high grades the rest of the year, and he was the sternest teacher ever when it came to spelling and grammar; somehow this wench managed to find tons of reasons to dunk points and highlight everything in red from the works I turned in. It was nearly ten years ago, but I still hope the stupid bitch never made it to teacher, or that she got fired early on if she did.
</rant>
Dude, you suck. Really.
thomps1d
Thinker
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2005
- Messages
- 193
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, so I can't say that my opinion won't change, but so far the characters are shallow and predictable, the writing is stale and uninspired, and the author's imposition of her moral beliefs in the narrative is so blatant that a typical high school student's work would seem inspired and sublime in comparison.
alfaniner
Penultimate Amazing
American Psycho. Loved the movie, especially on a second viewing realizing that it was probably the "blackest" comedy ever. But the book was just plain grueling. One of the few I ever felt like I had to wash my hands after reading.
eta -- Heh. Posted this even before reading the post above by Zeegerman.
eta -- Heh. Posted this even before reading the post above by Zeegerman.
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My ancestors were in "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". Named specifically, I mean. So I have to get all irritated inside just because of that
I *hate* "The Outlander". I never finished it, but I did want to punch the author. There was an attempted rape roughly every other page.
I hate Stephen King. Just for existing.
I despise "His Dark Materials". I have fifty pages remaining in the final book, and I know they will never be read. Lyra was the most annoyingly nice and well-loved creature in the entire universe, rivaled only by Lucy from "The Chronicles of Narnia".
I love Foucault's Pendulum. Read it three times and enjoyed it more and more with each reading.
The book I probably hated most while reading it was the first Wheel of Time. Someone here wrote he got worse after the third... HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!!?! This was pure, derivative, boring, stupid, disgustingly lame CRAP!
I feel better now :]
The book I probably hated most while reading it was the first Wheel of Time. Someone here wrote he got worse after the third... HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!!?! This was pure, derivative, boring, stupid, disgustingly lame CRAP!
I feel better now :]
Madalch
The Jester
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2006
- Messages
- 9,763
That's Piers Anthony you're talking about, right?
A lot of Poe is very good- "Hop-Frog" will always be one of my favourites. But he also wrote a lot of dreary twaddle. Like the one about seeing the deer. Or "The Angel of the Odd". Or "The Devil in the Belfry". Yeesh.
(Although, going through some of his lesser-known stories, I found the following line- "The truth is, he had been deprived of his head, which after a close search I could not find anywhere; so I determined to take him home and send for the homoeopathists....He did not long survive his terrible loss. The homoeopathists did not give him little enough physic, and what little they did give him he hesitated to take. So in the end he grew worse, and at length died, a lesson to all riotous livers.")
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